In late August, software developers MoboTap released Dolphin, the popular browser formerly exclusive to the Android platform, on iOS. Today, the tablet-specific version called Dolphin Browser HD is available for free in the iTunes App store.
Though Dolphin has a number of useful browser features such as tabs, sidebars, speed dial, desktop mode, and auto-completing URLS, there are two features that make this browser remarkable: Gesture browsing and Webzine mode, which launched on Android back in July.
Dolphin Webzine should be an easy concept to grasp for anyone who has followed the transition of print media as it embraces the mobile tablet. Webzine mode automatically reformats websites in a paginated "tablet magazine" format like Flipboard, Zite, The Daily, Livestand, and Google Catalogs. Dolphin includes Webzine links to Twitter, Facebook, Techcrunch, Wall Street Journal, and Wired, but lets users select from a long list of approved sites to add to their reading list.
Gesture browsing is probably the most noteworthy feature of Dolphin, it lets users assign actions to gestures they draw on their tablet screen. By default, there are nine gestures programmed into Dolphin: load URL, forward, back, refresh, go to top, go to bottom, new tab, and add bookmark.
Users simply click on the "Gestures" button to launch the recognition screen and enter their input. It's quite a novel workaround to the onscreen keyboard and changes the browsing experience significantly. There are 19 pre-defined actions that can be added to gestures, and any number of linked URLs could also be assigned to gestures.